Video Audio Text ועל ידי קיום המצות, נמשך אור מקיף הנ״ל, ומאיר תוך העשר ספירות דאצילות, בריאה, יצירה, עשיה, ומתייחד עם האור פנימי Now, by the fulfillment of the commandments, the above-mentioned encompassing light is elicited and radiates within the Ten Sefirot of [the Worlds of] Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, thereby uniting with the […]

Video Audio Text וזה שאמרו רז״ל: שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא ליכא This is the meaning of the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory:10 “In this world there is no reward for [the fulfillment of] the commandments.” They do not say that “in this world there is no reward granted”; rather, that “there exists no […]

Video Audio Text And the additional radiation and effluence is first bestowed upon [the Sefirah of Chochmah, which is] the first of the Ten Sefirot. וזה הוא: וכובע ישועה בראשו This is the meaning of [the above-quoted phrase], “and a helmet of salvation (ישועה) upon his head.” ישועה הוא מלשון: וישע ה׳ אל הבל ואל […]

Video Audio Text אין ישראל נגאלין אלא בצדקה, שנאמר: ושביה בצדקה “Israel shall be redeemed only by virtue of tzedakah,”1 as it is written,2 “And her repatriates [shall be redeemed] through tzedakah.” Tzedakah, whose root connotes both “righteousness” and “charity”, thus brings about the redemption of the Jewish people from exile and their ultimate return […]

Video Audio Text ומה שאין כל אדם זוכה למדרגה זו, לעבודה שבלב מעומקא דליבא בבחינת פנימיות The reason that not every person merits this rank in the service of the heart — service from the depth of the heart in a state of pnimiyut — היינו לפי שבחינה זו היא אצלו בבחינת גלות ושביה is […]

Video Audio Text והנה על מילת הערלה ממש, כתיב: ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם, אתם בעצמכם Now, concerning the excision of the foreskin itself it is written: “And you — yourselves — shall excise the foreskin of your heart.” Each and every Jew is able to remove this himself, for repentance tears down the veil with […]

Video Audio Text וכן כל ניצוץ פרטי מהשכינה שבנפש כל אחד מישראל Similarly, every particular spark of the Shechinah, inherent in the soul of every individual Jew, יוצאת מהגלות והשביה לפי שעה emerges for the moment from exile and captivity בחיי שעה, זו תפלה during that23 “momentary life which is prayer” — ועבודה שבלב מעומקא […]

Video Audio Text אך מודעת זאת כי אתערותא דלעילא היא באתערותא דלתתא דוקא But it is well known that an arousal from above comes only in response to an arousal from below, A man’s soul is stimulated from above only in response to the spiritual service that he initiates here below. Even an effusion of […]

Video Audio Text וזהו: צדק לפניו יהלך In these terms, too, we can understand the meaning of [the above-quoted phrase], “Righteousness (or charity) shall go (yehaleich) before Him (lefanav).” לפניו הוא מלשון פנימיות The word lefanav shares a root with pnimiyut (“inwardness”), ויהלך הוא מלשון הולכה and yehaleich — the causative form of the verb, […]

Video Audio Text ויעש דוד שם “And David made a name.”1 The simple meaning of the verse is either (as Rashi explains) that David gave the Jewish people a good name by burying the dead of their enemies, or (as other commentators explain) that David made a name for himself through his heroism. ופירש בזוהר […]